BA Graphic Design Communication Triumph at the D&AD New Blood Awards

Huge congratulations to the seven students from BA Graphic Design Communication who took away nine New Blood Awards between them last week.

The students were awarded New Blood Pencil trophies at each level; Wood, Graphite, Yellow, White, and Black.

Polina Hohonova

Polina won two trophies: Black – The best of the best, the ultimate award for new creatives, and Yellow – for work that is outstanding, excelling across all judging criteria.

Her work Retro Serif is a project about the revival of abolished Russian glyphs. With the Bolshevik overthrow, it was decided to omit the letters I, Ѳ, Ѣ from the ‘new’ Russian alphabet as these were regarded as symbols of the aristocratic ‘High Russian’ and representative of the defunct Tsarist Russia. Those symbols were part of the original language that was adopted by creative minds such as Pushkin and Tolstoy. Reviving these characters is a protest against the prescribed dictatorship of the language.

Kegan also picked up two trophies, a Graphite Pencil which then led to a Black award – The best of the best, the ultimate award for new creatives.

Kegan’s project Better Together is a redesign and revival of Moon Type, originally created by William Moon in 1845. The new version is designed alongside a custom Roman script which together form Moon Two, which aims to bridge the gap for children with normal sight and those who are visually impaired, who are often required to choose either visual language or a tactile alternate at the early stages of education. The Better Together campaign showcases Moon Two’s legibility for sight impaired children and those who lose their sight in later life, using shape as a structure, over patterns such as Braille.

Lucy was awarded a Graphite pencil for her project Independent Woman, Pt.III, a series of short videos documenting Cystic Fibrosis sufferer Amy Hurst.

‘Amy Hurst is a practising musician and artist but most of all, she’s someone you’re guaranteed a good laugh with. In 2012, Amy had a double lung transplant after coping with the genetic disease Cystic Fibrosis since birth. Therefore Amy’s independence is her ability to find joy in the details of life. She proves daily that independence is more than an alternative lifestyle, but an understanding of what you’ve got, what makes you truly happy, and running with it. She taught me that it doesn’t matter if independent characteristics are outrageous or mundane, they just have to be yours.’ Lucy Bourton

Jess picked up a Graphite Pencil for her short film series In the Moment, which focuses on that moment of release and liberation. Celebrating that these range of actions can happen anytime, anywhere and differ for each individual to release their moment of expression.

There’s No Place Like Home encapsulates autumn as a gust of wind. The window display aims to offer an experience on the doorstep of John Lewis in keeping with the shift towards retail stores becoming experiential places.

This film was aimed at capturing the independence of the band ‘Film Gnar’; the music they make, the relationships they have as a group, and what separates them as individuals. Augustus’ aim was to document real independence in the scenarios we encountered and focus on the details of how the band interact with one another in and out of their performances.

George picked up a Wood Pencil for his window concept Time For Change for John Lewis.

Time For Change is a mesmerising shop window embracing the colour gradient and pace of Autumn, inviting the passerby to engage with the marking of time passing as the seasons shift. An enticing experience created from John Lewis objects crafted in glass, echoing the traditional form of the hour glass timer with a contemporary twist.

You can see the full list of this year’s D&AD New Blood winners on their website.